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Bull.
- Thread starter grampa dan
- Start date
grampa dan
New Member
Thanks for the kind comments.
The sculpting epoxy can be sanded and machined although it is very hard when dry.
Sculpting is best learned by simply doing. The more you do the better you get. The sculpting epoxy does have a bit of a learning curve as it tends to want to do what it does and you have to learn to work within those limits - like any medium.
One way to make mixing the two parts together easier is to warm the sculpt. I keep it off the floor under the heater. If I'm in a hurry the culpt can be put in a microwave over for a few seconds to make it soft.
-grampa dan
The sculpting epoxy can be sanded and machined although it is very hard when dry.
Sculpting is best learned by simply doing. The more you do the better you get. The sculpting epoxy does have a bit of a learning curve as it tends to want to do what it does and you have to learn to work within those limits - like any medium.
One way to make mixing the two parts together easier is to warm the sculpt. I keep it off the floor under the heater. If I'm in a hurry the culpt can be put in a microwave over for a few seconds to make it soft.
-grampa dan
laserman70
New Member
Amazing work... Great job..
Dan, Fantastic work! Unfinished even, it's most impressive!
I'd like to ask... regarding the routered wood background- do you have a toolpath strategy that brings the wood texture right up to the sides of letters routered from the same HDU piece? - or - do you router the entire background with the woodgrain texture and then pocket out for application of the letters seperately routered?
Your work is a great inspiration. Thanks for posting here.
I'd like to ask... regarding the routered wood background- do you have a toolpath strategy that brings the wood texture right up to the sides of letters routered from the same HDU piece? - or - do you router the entire background with the woodgrain texture and then pocket out for application of the letters seperately routered?
Your work is a great inspiration. Thanks for posting here.
grampa dan
New Member
Unless the sign is very large I prefer to route the letters from the same piece of material as the background. There are no failures this way. We've figured out ways to make painting even easier than doing them separately. I'll post a picture of the sign when it is done.
-grampa dan
-grampa dan
-grampa dan
-grampa dan
I always enjoy seeing your dimension signs Dan (both in Signcraft and on here!) and it inspires me to want to do better work.
I'm curious how you figure out the details of the shape, do you do a 3d rendering mockup or anything at first, or do you just sketch out how you want it to look and dig right in?
I'm more logic centered in my thought processes, but that part of me always wants me to learn how to make the other half work and be more artistic!
I'm curious how you figure out the details of the shape, do you do a 3d rendering mockup or anything at first, or do you just sketch out how you want it to look and dig right in?
I'm more logic centered in my thought processes, but that part of me always wants me to learn how to make the other half work and be more artistic!
signmeup
New Member
Do tell.....
grampa dan
New Member
The key is how I design our routing files with layers and lots of texture.
The texture allows us to paint a base color on with acrylic paints... pretty basic stuff anybody could do. Then we apply a couple (or more) layers of glazing, semi transparent paint which we wipe off (mostly) with a soft rag. This gives our woodgrains and other textures incredible depth and richness. It doesn't take long. We work from light colors to dark. By leaving a dark glaze heavier around the letters it makes them pop out when we paint them a lighter color. We work from the bottom layer of the sign up to the top. The last thing we generally paint is the letters. Because we have raised them from the background (when we designed the routing files) we only have to paint the tops. Because they are raised with a sharp edge it is as simple as dragging a brush around the edges to get a nice crisp outline.
It makes it all easy and fast. And it makes our signs stand out from the crowd.
The sign will be in production about a week but overlapped with other similar projects. And this sign is all we need to do this week to make a good living. I told the customer we needed six weeks to do the project. We will have it done in less than four. This exceeds the customer's expectations and lessens our stress. I would much rather make one or two good paying sign each week than a hundred small things. I have no competition to worry me, and I only do a little paperwork. Less stress - more creativity. It makes sense to me.
The sign took one sheet of Precision Board (plus some scraps), a little glue, less than 1 kit (50 lbs) of of Abracadabra sculpt a bit of steel, two eye bolts, and some paint. Il'' have 20 hours into it in total plus another 15 hours for our part time help. Bec will paint it and she should be able to do it in about 8 hours.
This sign measures 4' x 4' x 4' deep. It is two sided meaning the two bull's heads will be back to back. The sign faces were routed from 2" 30 lb Precision Board. I used scrap pieces of 1.5" 30 lb Precision Board to laminate between them with a 1.5" welded square tubing frame in the middle. The eye bolts are welded to that frame and stick out the top.
The initial design concept took about an hour to do from sketch to finish. The sketch was in my sketchbook which I then imported into PhotoShop and finished with a digital pen on my Wacom tablet.
The file took me less than an hour to design and send to the router. The head of the bull was created as a simple cutout of Precision Board...
Then I started adding the sculpt filling the larger areas with crumpled up heavy duty tinfoil. This was a money/time saving strategy. In the last picture you can see the pPrecision BOard cutouts as well as the crumpled tinfoil. This is a rough sculpt to get the basic shape. A final layer would be done over this.
I hope this answers your questions.
-grampa dan
The texture allows us to paint a base color on with acrylic paints... pretty basic stuff anybody could do. Then we apply a couple (or more) layers of glazing, semi transparent paint which we wipe off (mostly) with a soft rag. This gives our woodgrains and other textures incredible depth and richness. It doesn't take long. We work from light colors to dark. By leaving a dark glaze heavier around the letters it makes them pop out when we paint them a lighter color. We work from the bottom layer of the sign up to the top. The last thing we generally paint is the letters. Because we have raised them from the background (when we designed the routing files) we only have to paint the tops. Because they are raised with a sharp edge it is as simple as dragging a brush around the edges to get a nice crisp outline.
It makes it all easy and fast. And it makes our signs stand out from the crowd.
The sign will be in production about a week but overlapped with other similar projects. And this sign is all we need to do this week to make a good living. I told the customer we needed six weeks to do the project. We will have it done in less than four. This exceeds the customer's expectations and lessens our stress. I would much rather make one or two good paying sign each week than a hundred small things. I have no competition to worry me, and I only do a little paperwork. Less stress - more creativity. It makes sense to me.
The sign took one sheet of Precision Board (plus some scraps), a little glue, less than 1 kit (50 lbs) of of Abracadabra sculpt a bit of steel, two eye bolts, and some paint. Il'' have 20 hours into it in total plus another 15 hours for our part time help. Bec will paint it and she should be able to do it in about 8 hours.
This sign measures 4' x 4' x 4' deep. It is two sided meaning the two bull's heads will be back to back. The sign faces were routed from 2" 30 lb Precision Board. I used scrap pieces of 1.5" 30 lb Precision Board to laminate between them with a 1.5" welded square tubing frame in the middle. The eye bolts are welded to that frame and stick out the top.
The initial design concept took about an hour to do from sketch to finish. The sketch was in my sketchbook which I then imported into PhotoShop and finished with a digital pen on my Wacom tablet.
The file took me less than an hour to design and send to the router. The head of the bull was created as a simple cutout of Precision Board...
Then I started adding the sculpt filling the larger areas with crumpled up heavy duty tinfoil. This was a money/time saving strategy. In the last picture you can see the pPrecision BOard cutouts as well as the crumpled tinfoil. This is a rough sculpt to get the basic shape. A final layer would be done over this.
I hope this answers your questions.
-grampa dan
Last edited by a moderator:
vinylbarry
New Member
AWSOME I got to try that we are always looking for ways to stand out and that is awsome.
for posting
for postinghow did you fasten the head to the board? I have never used or seen this sculpting material. does it bond well to the precision board? are you putting screws halfway in as and anchor for the sculpting clay to bond around? What is this precision board you say? thanks for sharing, you are wonderful at your craft
grampa dan
New Member
The flat board of the sign is double sided and was routed in two pieces, then laminated together (back to back) with a steel frame in the middle. Before I laminated the two halves together I fastened the bull's heads to each piece. The heads had a core of Precision Board over which I sculpted the bull. The heads were glued to the face and also screwed from the back with some monster screws.
The sculpting epoxy does stick well to the Precision Board.
-grampa dan
The sculpting epoxy does stick well to the Precision Board.
-grampa dan
J
john1
Guest
Amazing Dan!
Dave Drane
New Member
Great start. That is a really neat idea signmeup! all you need to do now is a little trimming and some airbrush and you have the greatest mouse idea yet. Love it!
signmeup
New Member
I wonder if you could munch that stuff through a french fry cutter to mix it? You know, like those epoxy syringes that "wiggle" the glue together. Or maybe an old hand crank meat grinder? I'd like to do some bigger projects but I dred mixing the amount you used on that bull head.